Here's a day in the life of a Toronto Film Fest refugee. A day of film... That's the best part about a film fest. You really have no clue. You walk in, you sit down and you just let... 'it' happen to you. Half the time you haven't a clue. Sometimes you end up snoring, but hey, that's energy and mind conservation a happening to ya. You have to save those for the good ones. And it looks like that's what happened here!
Toronto International Film Fest: Once again.
Yesterday I saw three flics. I’ll count them down in decending order from which I saw them. Just because the first one I saw was sheer brilliance, and I want to save it for last.
Thursday night - 9:00
I’m Losing You
Bruce Wagner’s feature film directorial debut based on his book of the same name. The film is loaded with fantastic and original writing, that is delivered by fantastic actors (or at least in this movie they do a fantastic job). Frank Langella, Rosanna Arquette, Andrew McCarthy (yes that A.M.), Amanda Donohoe and more are the cast and are great. David Cronenberg (who was exec. producer on the film), Bruce Wagner, Andrew McCarthy and a few of the producers were all in the audience. Cronenberg got involved after he had liked the book, and Wagner approached him about helping with the financing of the film. Wagner did a brief Q&A after the film, which was fairly interesting and funny. If you’ve read Wagner’s book, the Hollywood surface of the book has been distilled, and the film focuses more upon the themes of death and Jewish tradition. It’s a compelling and very emotional drama that is a brilliant debut for Wagner. Go see it. It’s not a fast moving film, but it is very enjoyable.
Thursday afternoon - 3:00
Clay Pigeons
Vince Vaughn, Joaquin Phoenix, and Janeane Garofalo are the stars. Newcomer David Dobkin is the director. The movie is the first to be made by Ridley and Tony Scott’s new film company Scott Free. The flic is fun, as are the performances. Dobkin’s directing style is a bit odd, and doesn’t fit the movie every now and then, but you can tell that the Scotts are behind it (moreso Tony) because it’s never boring. That’s a very good thing as far as I’m concerned, so you may as well check this out. I thought it was fun.
Thursday afternoon - 12:00
Time for brilliance. Time for Happiness.
This film is the most original and disturbing films I've ever seen, and THE BEST dark comedy I've ever seen (even though categorizing it as a dark comedy is pigeon holing it. It's so much more). I don't squirm easily, but there were moments where I was squirming during this film. Todd Solondz is the writer and director, and I now must go and rent Welcome To The Dollhouse because if it's half as good as Happiness, I won't be disapointed. There isn't a bad performance in the film. So here's the main cast since they all deserve to be mentioned:
Jane Adams Dylan Baker Lara Flynn Boyle Ben Gazzara Jared Harris Philip Seymour Hoffman Jon Lovitz Marla Maples Cynthia Stevenson Elizabeth Ashley Louise Lasser Camryn Manheim Rufus Read Anne Bobby Dan Moran
I'm gonna pull a Siskel, and say that I won't see a better film this year. And if it weren't for Eyes Wide Shut next year, I'd include it as well. The film moves at it's own pace, and that's one of the things that I think I really loved about it. It lingers, and takes its time to tell its stories. Don't let anyone tell you anything about this film before you've seen it. It comes out mid to late October. John Waters said that Happiness is the best film he's seen in the last decade and that's not that far off from the way I feel. I love this film, and everyone should see it. It may not be for everyone though, even more so than any film I've ever seen. But I encourage EVERYONE to go see this film, its SOOO DAMN GOOD!!! Also, if anyone tells you that it's similar to There's Something About Mary, tell them to go fuck themselves! Just because a film has scenes with masturbation and semen in it, doesn't make it like TSAM. But again, do yourself a favour and go see Happiness when it comes out. I can't say that enough.
Later.
